Former CU Buff Lynn Katoa sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2011 assault case

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
05/14/2013 09:41:08 AM MDT

Lynn Katoa (Boulder County Sheriff's Office)

One-time star football recruit Lynn Katoa came to Boulder in 2008 hoping to spend four years on the field making tackles for the Buffs.

Instead, after numerous run-ins with the law and a stint on the Boulder Police Department's most-wanted list, Katoa instead will spend the next four years in a Colorado prison.

Katoa was sentenced to prison for felony menacing plus 145 days in jail for third-degree assault Friday in connection with a 2011 case, his third arrest during his time in Boulder.

According to prosecutors, a group of friends were at a residence in the 900 block of Broadway in Boulder on Jan. 9, 2011, when they heard Katoa yelling outside about his lost phone. One of the men went outside to try to help him, but came back in, unable to find the phone.

A short while later, those in the residence said several objects were thrown at their window, breaking the glass. The group then went outside to see who had thrown the objects.

According to a police report, when the group encountered Katoa, he was "acting crazy" and "flipped out." He punched a woman in the jaw and began fighting with several of the other people in the group, then fled the scene, police said.

Several of the people suffered broken noses, and others suffered bruises and cuts.

Katoa remained at large and was placed on Boulder's most-wanted list until October, when he was involved in a traffic accident in Utah and extradited back to Boulder on an arrest warrant.

He pleaded guilty to felony menacing and third-degree assault in March in exchange for prosecutors dropping two counts of second-degree assault, one count of third-degree assault, criminal mischief and false reporting to authorities.

But because Katoa was on probation during the assault, he had to be sentenced to a mandatory three to six years in prison.

Katoa was a former five-star linebacker recruit for the University of Colorado, but never saw the field because of his legal troubles.

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